Day 1: Leadership (Hange Week)
by Grasi Andrade
Summary: Summary: After Hanji meets Eren, she finds herself questioning her leadership abilities. Spoilers of chapter 107.


Disclaimer: Shingeki no Kyojin and their characters belong to Hajime Isayama, Kodansha and WIT Studio. No money is being made from this work.

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Hanji leaned against the closed door behind her, pausing for a moment to recompose herself after what had happened.

"Erwin... This is the only mistake you made..." She started to speak to herself. "Why did you make a person like me the Commander?"

After that, she sighed and went back to address to her office, with a whirlwind of thoughts in her head. Maybe she should not have pushed Eren so hard. He could be taller than she is now, but he was still just a kid in a very difficult situation. And despite disapproving all he had done, she was not even sure if the decisions she had made before were the correct ones. He at least tried to do something rather than just waiting that with the Coordinate in hand the world would not attack them.

Without realizing it, she had already arrived in her office. Opening the door, she saw a raven-haired man leaning against her desk, arms folded.

"Finally, Hanji. I was already going after you... Where were you, anyway?"

"Hey, Levi! I was just having a little chat with our titan boy. Hahaha" She tried to act normally, but despite the laughter, Levi could notice that something was wrong with her.

"What happen there?"

Shit! She didn't want to talk about it right now. "Nothing... It was just a nice talk." She replied laughing again, trying to deceive him. But it didn't work.

"I can tell there's something wrong with you, so cut the crap out and tell me already what happened." He demanded, stepping closer to her.

"I'm telling you, nothing happened! You're seeing things!" She replied, looking away to avoid his gaze and hoping he'd let it go, since he could always see through her lies.

He stared at her for another minute with a scowl and finally spoke. "Tch. Fine."

She let out a sigh, but before she could feel relieved she saw the Captain walking toward the door. The brunette grabbed his arm before he reached the doorknob.

"Where're you going?"

"Since you're not going to tell me, I'm gonna ask to that brat."

She made a sound of disapproval.

"Alright, alright! I'll tell you! Jeez."

He turned to her and waited for her answer, folding his arms in his chest again.

"I went there to ask Eren why he did what he did, but I found him talking to himself again, so I started asking him lots of questions and chattering about various things, you know me. Hehehe" She glanced to see his reaction, but of course he didn't laugh back. "I asked if he still cared about what would happen to Historia and then he said he ate the War Hammer Titan. That he could use his powers to escape whenever he wanted, and that we could not do anything since we can't kill him. And he might have grabbed me while asking if there was another way." Hanji said trying to appease what he did.

After hearing all she had to say in silence, she saw Levi heading toward the exit and she had to stop him once more.

"Levi, wait! What are you gonna do?"

"I'll teach a lesson to that little shit! Apparently he didn't get enough the first time!"

"See? It's exactly because of this that I din't wanted to tell you at first! I knew you would overreact... It was no big deal!" The Commander said, trying to calm him down.

"That ungrateful brat had the audacity to threaten and grab you, and you say it was no big deal?! Even after we risked our asses to save him! He should be thanking us!" Levi spoke furiously.

"Yeah, he should. But I can't totally blame him."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's not like I'm convinced the our decisions was the best ones. I also wanted to do something for the horrible situation that Historia was forced to accept! And waiting for these 50 years seems like we're not doing anything! I don't know what to think anymore..." She looked down, putting a hand on her head.

Levi remained silent for a moment, thinking about what she had said.

"You can't take all the responsibility for yourself."

"But I'm the Commander now! I should be sure of what to do, be making the right choices... Should be inspiring confidence in my subordinates so they don't make stupid decisions by themselves and go on suicide missions! Probably the whole world is getting ready to destroy us right now as we speak! Not to mention all those innocent people who died! The situation could not be worse! I suck at it! I'm sure Erwin would be doing things much better than me... He should have picked someone else!"

"Hanji, calm down!" He said holding her by the shoulders, making her look at him. "First, you can't blame yourself for what Eren did! He made that choice alone and left without saying a shit to nobody, it's not like we can control him. Second, this it's not a easy position, and I'm sorry for being the one who put you through this when I chose to give the serum to Armin, but you're doing a good job in an impossible situation! Erwin choose you not because he didn't had anyone else, but cause you're the best choice!" He breathed, then continued to speak. "You are smart, trustworthy, brilliant, caring toward others, and you have been a perfectly good leader so far."

She was staring at him with watery eyes and speechless. It was the first time anyone spoke so well of her that way. Did he really think all this things about her?

She looked at him affectionately and said. "Thank you, Levi. This mean a lot to me!"

But before he had the chance to respond her, Hanji took his face in her hands and pulled his face, giving him a kiss in his lips. It was so fast that he didn't even had time to react.

When she pulled away and opened her eyes, she saw Levi petrified with a little red face, which made her blush too.

"Um, you're welcome... I guess." He looked away, he couldn't face her now. Or never again. That was nice, but how was he supposed to react after it? He didn't have a clue. "And I hope I made myself clear. Don't put shit in your head anymore."

"Ah, sure, sure! I have to get back to work now, so..." She pointed to her desk, also avoiding his eyes.

"Me too. I have to take that fucking furry ball to his new hotel."

"Oh yeah! I'm sure you'll show our hospitality to him. Good luck with that!" She waved to Levi, who waved back already withdrawing from her office.

When he closed the door, she sat down in her chair and let out a deep sigh.

"That was embarrassing!" She said to herself, but couldn't help but smile when she thought about what had happened.

Of course she still had her doubts about her ability to lead, but what Levi said to her certainly made her think she should have more confidence in herself. Maybe she was not such a bad Commander after all.

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I wrote this because I think Hanji is in need of someone to boost her self-esteem. In my opinion she has always proved to be a great leader, but she is facing a particularly difficult situation, and probably even Erwin would not know what to do either.


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